Eating

Amazing, this life. So much beauty, everywhere. Yes, it's amazing that I can find so much beauty in how a baby and toddler eat. Everything about it is something that I want to cherish and remember. These were shot with my 35mm canon film camera wit fuji 400h, seriously overexposed, but they came out because my new pricey light meter is seriously underexposing stuff, well in my humble opinion(more on this later). 

Jude is a super eater. He loves to eat. The other day, I fed him eggs and Cheerios. Okay, they are the generic brand of Cheerios.

But he likes them all the same, you know. 

This bib is super helpful. 

When we feed these little ones, of course food ends up on the floor. But, it is usually stepped on, pressed deep into the cracks of the wood floor. *sigh*

I unpacked Pete's old pedipeds for Jude. These shoes are so cute on him. Oh, do you like my new boots? Hey, thanks! ;) 

 What do you see out the window Jude? 

Hey, that is a good idea, baby!

Hey Jude!

Pete was there. Having a bagel snack. Sometimes he will gimme a smile...

But sometimes a toddler just wants to eat his bagel. 

Joe comes home for lunch sometimes. I LOVE that. LOVE it. I make coffee, we joke around about our days. I so enjoy his company at lunch. The other day, he walks out of the kitchen, comes back in and says, "go look at Pete. He is so small at that big table." I look and then yank out the camera. Joe laughs, asking me why I am taking a picture of that. 

This is why.

He does look tiny at that big table. And he is adorable. I am going to miss this tiny toddler at my big table someday.

So, I don't know where I am going with this film thing. I like the look of film, but there are things I don't like. I don't think any of the pictures I have taken can be printed larger than 5x7 because of the grain. I know a medium format is key for larger prints. And, you need a light meter for film. With my digital, I feel like I really get my histogram. I love my histogram. LOVE it. I use it with natural light, with my speedlite, and it is so accurate in getting perfect exposure. You don't have the luxury of a histogram with film cameras. So, I bought a light meter. And, the drama begins. It seems to be underexposing just slightly. I underexposed quite a few pictures on a roll of film. :( Annoying. Some of this may be user error too, I admit I am not light meter savvy. I don't know...I am just not sure if tinkering with this light meter is worth 300 bucks. :( I will probably return it. But, then what about exposing for film? I don't know, maybe I will use the palm of my hand method until I decide how much time and money I want to invest in this filmy adventure....

Family movie night

On Fridays, we have a family movie night. The kids look forward to it all week. Everyday, Pete will ask me, "is tonight movie night?" I will say, "no, today is Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday..." So, finally, when he asks me this question on Friday, and I can say "yes," his face just lights up. All smiles and squeals. This week, we got a box from Grandma full of movies. Thanks Grandma. We watched Open Season. The kids loved it. 

We even let them eat in front of the TV. And, it was only after the meal that I realized that giving coleslaw to a coleslaw loving 3 y/o to eat standing up while laughing and jumping was a bad idea. Lesson learned. Oh well. All in the name of fun.

I played around with my new light meter, trying to figure out this flash metering business. And, on that note...you know, when you start to learn things, understand what makes a good/bad picture, technically speaking, it is very easy to trash your imperfect pics. Soft focus. Bad comp. Etc. Pics you might have even though looked good before you knew any better. These pics above are far from perfect. But, you gotta remember that if they capture the moment, then you gotta keep 'em. That's what its all about. I can look back on these and get the whole movie night vibe. 20 years from now, I won't regret all the mistakes I made. I will just treasure these pictures of my sweet boys. 

Tramp pants!

So, not too long ago, I mentioned that I had let myself go. More about that now. I think every mom goes through this. And, it is not like we wake up one day and say, I'm gonna just stop trying and look like a slob from now on. Of course not. That would be...weird. No, it is something that creeps up on ya, little by little. You don't have time to shop. You don't have time to fix your hair. You don't have time to...you get the point. Everyone else comes first, and you neglect yourself. Or you spend more time blogging than in front of a mirror... I would not trade my life for the world, not complainin' here, just stating the facts. My mom put it best. She said that she always felt like a piece of pie, and everyone got a piece, and at the end of the day, she went to get hers and it was gone. Good news is that most of us moms have this epiphany-like moment where we get jolted back into normalcy. We realize we look like slobs. We get embarrassed. We vow to find our sass again. And, when we do, we vow to not let it go again, although we probably will. This is the mama cycle. You gotta fight for the time to primp or shop or maybe even catch a shower *and* shave your legs with that shower time too. 

So, my epiphany came the other day. I woke up to a numb foot. Scary. Joe asked me if I wore anything tight the day before. Oh the shame...yes I did. I most certainly did. My old skinny size Levis. See, I got back in my old jeans, but not really. They were tight. I could button them, so I wore them. I had to take them off the day before because they were just too uncomfortable. That was the culprit. I would have to deal with some temporary foot numbness now. How did this happen? Why was I squeezing into ill fitting pants? Because I had maternity clothes and my old size, and I did not want to waste $ on a 'fat' size. El Cheapo Mamacita. I figured that in 2 weeks or so, they would fit better. That was like 9 months ago. I knew I needed to order some new pants, but I put it off. So two things here...1) I have been walking around looking like tramp mom in her tight tramp pants. Oh the shame. 2) being cheap and not making time to shop for myself cost me the temporary use of my foot. 

So, I vowed to change, talked to Joe about it. Joe, who cares nothing for fashion, agreed that I needed to shop. I have not been to the Mall in over a year, if that says anything...He said, "I don't care what you spend. You just gotta do...SOMETHING." Then he looked at me funny and laughed. LOL!!! So I did. I bought some cute 'fat' shirts and 'fat' pants and shoes and I decided to start accessorizing. I just quite doing that. I have jewelry. I just stopped wearing it. I pulled out some of  my old pieces. I had to buy jewelry cleaner. I then bought some more.

It's funny. It has been so long since I have bought anything for myself(save camera gear and baby wraps, of course), I did not know what I wanted. Not too long ago, the market section of the Wall Street Journal, there was a picture of this powerful CEO woman, and she had the loveliest pair of knot earrings on. I thought, hey those look like smart earrings. So, I decided to hunt down a pair of my own. Typing this out makes me realize that the market section of the WSJ is probably not the best place to get fashion advice. But, powerful CEO lady, I dig your earrings, thanks for the inspiration girl. ;) After that, I decided to get a big ol' necklace of sorts to dress up this t-shirt wearing mama.

Enter Etsy. I love etsy. So, I got 100 inches of gray freshwater pearls. Perfect. They came from China, see the Chinese writing on the package? I am like a kid with international mail. I get all giddy about it. I saved the package to show Joey. He was not nearly as excited as I was about it.

I probably like these so much because I can tie a knot in them, like I used to do with those plastic pearl necklaces when I played dress up as a kid. :) 

I vow to wear this more often.

The pretty yellow scarf, not the Rapid-1 camera strap, umbrella, or Crumpler camera bag. Although these things are nice too.

This scarf matches my funky new wellies, you know. Remember?

Yes, there is a new mama in the house. I will shop for myself and accessorize. I will make the time. :)

And, today, I turned the corner to see this.

I am not sure why he likes doing this with is shirt. Weird. But, I do know it is cute. Really really cute. :)

About that Spring...

Right after that Spring post, we got dumped with snow. But, it rained again, snow is melting...but I hear the snow is coming...again. Oh well. I got the boys their rubber boots in anticipation of Spring, and it was warm enough to blow some bubbles today. :)

And, I had to work on my back lighting assignment for my natural light workshop. And it just so happens that I got some shots that were not planned at all. It was just a coincidence that they were back lit. LOL 

Jude has been doing this lately. 

He likes danger. He thinks its real funny too. Feet on the table...is he kidding me? I will say, "no" and put his foot back down, and he will get this sly smile and put it back up. Oh boy. Dangerous, yes. Cute, oh yes. 

Then, when we were getting ready for mass, there was all this giggling in the mud room. I peek in and find the boys have ransacked the mitten/hat/scarf drawer. Paul is wearing my hat and gloves, and he is pointing his finger at Joey and Pete, yelling, "clean up the living room boys!" Oh no he didn't. Oh yes, he did. He was imitating me. ME! Joe laughs, saying, "see, you are a nag." LOL As punishment, I asked him to step outside so I can photograph him against the sky, for my assignment. LOL 

 Then I had him clean the living room...just kidding. 

 Now, this one was intentional. I bribed Pete with some candy. I was trying to find some lovely tree bokeh, but with no leaves on the trees, well...not so easy. Oh well. I was going to try again, but the gray skies have rolled in...so, this is what I got.

 Come on Spring!!!

More fun with film

Color film that is. Developed at CVS again(I know, I know).  Try to spot the green color cast, ay yi yi. But, I am not complaining--for a 3.99 CD. :)  And, it may have been my fault. I was guestimating exposure based on the in camera light meter. I think I do need a light meter. Just playing around again. :)

Kodak 400VC

  

 

Kodak 400NC

Birthdays!

What? Did I forget to mention that? I now have a 1 and 3 year old...sob sob...

Yes, I am late in posting these. You know, sometimes I think it would be easier to shoot film because I would actually have hard copies of my pictures(as opposed to having pics sit on my hard drive forever, never getting printed), and I would not have the editing time delay...you know, you take the pics, but then they sit in memory card waste land, waiting to get edited and saved on your computer, while you juggle the 110 other things in your life? Nah, with film, you send that roll off for scanning/developing, because you cannot wait to see the results. With digi, you see them, and then they sit there while you remain to busy to edit them...this is a whole other post, this 'digi convenience' (a lil' sarcasm there).

For now, lemme share with you the pics of my sweet birthday boys!

Jude! 1!

Pete! 3!

I told Pete that I ran outta diapers, so he would have to use the potty today. We will see how that goes...